SOS to Blog-O-Sphere, Calling All Writers & Editors!

I am sending this out to all my followers and well the blog-o-sphere in general. I am looking at publishing on Amazon Kindle, only problems is I need an editor and someone who is familiar with E-Books to lend me a little help.

I live in the lower state of Missouri near Arkansas. Does any one know of any freelance editors or editing services anywhere near Missouri or Arkansas? Also does anyone know of anyone or any service that knows a good deal about E-Books that could help me out a bit?

I am putting my feelers out to my friends but I haven’t found anyone yet. I am determined to be published on Amazon Kindle and then later through the CreateSpace on Amazon. I plan to publish for the Kindle by December 2014 and in regular book format through Create Space by the spring (perhaps April or May) of 2015.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!! :~)

I am sending my LOVE out to the Blog Universe!!! Hope it helps!! LOL! :~)

Celebrities Pretending to be Writers!

Okay so my bone I have to pick is with celebrities or TV reality stars pretending they are writers. Sure they can be called authors as their name is on the book but 99% of the time they didn’t contribute one sentence to the story. They had the idea and hired a ghostwriter.

Writer Definition: one who writes, esp. as an occupation; author.

Author Definition: 1. one who makes or creates something. 2. A writer of books, etc.

Ghostwriter Definition: one who writes books, articles, etc. for another who professes to be the author.

Collaboration Definition: 1. to work together, esp. in some literary or scientific undertaking.

Last year Kendall and Kylie Jenner were being interviewed about a novel they were releasing and it is being released now. They were asked if they had sat down in front of a computer together and wrote it or did different parts separately then came together to make it all blend together. They said no they don’t know about that kind of thing and writing books. They said they wrote down ideas and emailed them to the person they were collaborating with. I knew instantly that meant a ghostwriter, unless the name of the third person was on the book. Sure enough the name isn’t there so it was confirmed as a ghostwritten book.

Those Jenner girls really sounded like they believed it was a collaboration. They need to be told if the other person writes it for you and you give them only the idea and are the only names on the cover then that is a ghostwriter. I hope they are not so dumb to really think that they are writers and authors in the real sense of those words and I only hope they said it was a collaboration to hide the fact their mommy hired a ghostwriter.

I have not read the book and I don’t intend to. I don’t waist money on Kardashian / Jenner products. But I did look up critics reviews of the book by professionals and normal people who just happened to read it. 99% of the reviews were quite funny because they were saying how horrid it really was. Most said don’t waist your money or time on such horrible garbage. Indeed the book details seemed like they stole some story lines from Hunger Games, Twilight, City of Bones, Divergent, and a few other well known YA books out on the market.

Another thing is the title, and mind you I hate bringing attention to the book but if ya’ll googled them you would see the book title anyhow. It is called “Rebels: City of Indra: The story of Lex and Livia.” First off is anyone else thrown off by the long title? I mean it seems no one could decide on the title. Like one wanted Rebels, the other wanted City of Indra, and a third party suggested The Story of Lex and Livia. Like they should have chosen one or the other, like “Rebels: City of Indra or City of Indra: The Story of Lex and Livia or Rebels: The Story of Lex and Livia or really any combination of no more than two of those.” I just can’t believe the publishers didn’t change it or say something about the title, I mean were they just so desperate to just have the Kardashian / Jenner name associated with their publishing company they didn’t care what the title or anything else was.

Also how obvious they are making what the story is about in the title, like trying too hard and seeming like if they don’t tell us what the story is about in the title then we won’t pick it up.

Like we can see from the title that it is about Rebels in the City of Indra and that Lex and Livia are the characters the story is about and perhaps they are rebels or know rebels and live in the city of Indra. Most people that read books no matter what age are not dumb so I think you don’t need to be so literal with the title. If you keep it interesting and explained somewhere in the story people will read to determine what the title has to do with the story, or at least I do that.

Example from Last Novel I read: “Malice in Miniature” by Jeanne M. Dams. It intrigued me and made me open it. It was about an amateur sleuth who investigates a double murder at a museum that houses miniature doll houses. So the story tied in nicely with the title but wasn’t overly obvious like, “Murder: Brocklesby Hall: Dorothy Martin.” LOL!

I sometimes tend to title my stories with my characters names played within the title. Sometimes it can be cheesy but most times I am better at it. Example: Harmony’s Destiny, Jousting for Honor, and The Price of Mercy… only Harmony’s Destiny has been written to date, the others are on my to be written list but probably only The Price of Mercy will be written. Most times the character’s name is not in the title, I have moved past that, LOL.

Of course maybe I am being too hard on Kendall and Kylie Jenner, I am just so mad at celebrities and TV reality stars that get ghostwriters to write for them and then call themselves authors. I have tried for years to get published with manuscripts I wrote but can’t get published because I am no celebrity with a name that will sell.

Lastly the names Lex and Livia. For some reason the names are throwing me off. I mean I like Lex, I assume it is a shortening of Alexandra or Alexandria, again haven’t read story so not sure. As for Livia, I am assuming it is a nickname for Olivia. I like as I said Lex and Livia separately but together the names don’t mesh well to me. I would rather see Lex and Liv, two three letter names rather than a shorter Lex and a longer Livia.

Plus I keep stumbling over saying Livia for some reason because if it is indeed a nickname of Olivia I prefer Liv as the nickname because I hear it a lot on Law & Order: SVU as Detective/ Sergeant Olivia “Liv” Benson. Plus Liv is the more preferred and used nickname for Olivia.

Anyway Lex and Livia are fine but I keep stumbling over it and I don’t like them together at all.

Okay so I am sorry if someone who reads this likes the book by Kendall and Kylie Jenner and gets mad at me. These are just my thoughts and assessments but I haven’t read the book and don’t intend to, so I can’t really judge but by what I have read and what limited information I have.

Have a Great Day! Happy Reading! Happy Writing!


EDIT June 13, 2015

Okay so I had read comments about this book where people said they thought maybe people were being harsh and exaggerating the badness of this book so they read it only to prove it wasn’t very good indeed.

Well I vowed after writing the original post that I would pick the book up and read the first few pages which I usually do to see if a book interests me. I thought too maybe people were just you know exaggerating or hating and to be honest on my post I said I didn’t read it and never would but curiosity got the best of me, lol!

So a few days ago while at the local Books-A-Million with my mom I decided to try and find the book while I was in the Teen Books section. Since I write Young Adult Novels I like to see what is new and fresh and occasionally love to read some.

Usually when I see a book I read the first page to get a view of if it will draw me in. Since I am dead broke right now books are a luxury so I don’t buy even the ones I love, instead I put them on my To Read in the Future list, which I will admit is growing longer by the Day, Week, Month and Year, lol!

Okay so I assumed when looking for the book that there would be more than one and it would be easy to find even it has been out for a year now. I looked and looked and finally found it, they had only one copy there on the self.

So I picked it up and while standing there I flipped to the Prologue and began to read. I honestly expected it to surprise me and be good and make me want to read more. About one paragraph in I didn’t care why the character was digging to the surface of earth that they didn’t think people survived, or I think so as I kind of skimmed. So I thought maybe it is one of those Prologues that are kind of boring, though I admit I love a Prologue in books and heck I write seriously long Prologues for my novels but some Prologues can be boring so I skipped to the first chapter.

So the first page annoyed me. The writing was flat and just boring. Some words didn’t make sense or were spelled wrong and a few paragraphs should have been two paragraphs instead of one, they were way too long. Plus there was an area that had way too many and’s repeated. I can’t remember the words used but it was like this:

First part of sentence then Word and Word and Word and Word. – Didn’t look right to me, there should have been commas instead of ands. I just put in Word in place of the actual words I can’t remember, lol! Sorry it’s been a few days and I forgot!

I would have written something like this though much more polished lol! This is just my example not taken from novel- The heart of the dwindling fire mesmerized her senses as she watched enthralled by the smoke, ashes, embers, and the crackling logs.

Okay so I skimmed to the next page and couldn’t be bothered to care as the feel of the words didn’t feel right. You would think with the publishing house, editors, and ghostwriters they had that the book would be engaging, well written, and well edited but it didn’t feel that way. So I skipped to the end page and was like oh great there probably will be a sequel as others said.

I put the book down and went onto other books as I wanted to browse more engaging novels before my mom finished and was sure to ask if I was finished as I can be a lengthy browser at book stores. I can literarily spend hours browsing and occasionally buying, lol!

The cover wasn’t impressive, the story theme is over done, the wording was mediocre, there were grammatical errors, and it just wasn’t something that made me want to read more.

I really did go into it wanting to give it a chance but I didn’t care for what I read at all. I am sure maybe someone else may like it but I didn’t care enough to read more or put it on my To Be Read in the Future list.  

Spring has Sprung and What a Delight it is!

Spring the season we dream about in the dead winter months is upon us in full force. The winds that blow around us bringing in the fresh crisp smell of the blooms that have sprouted from the warming earth, intoxicating to our senses. The sun that somehow blankets us in its successive warmth more than it ever could in the cold dead winter days. The buzz of bees busy pollinating and making rich honey. The butterflies that flap around and the birds that chirp in the early mornings. The animals that have emerged from their burrows to welcome the warming earth. The feeling of getting caught in a warm down pours of an early spring shower and to welcome the green that envelops the lands.

 

Aw! Spring and all that it means.

 

 

Nature and Spring Quotes:

 

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. - Kahlil Gibran

 

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth. "Garden Thoughts - " - Dorothy Frances Gurney

Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven. - Rabindranath Tagore

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. - Anne Frank

 

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere. - Blaise Pascal

 

The sun is but a morning star.  ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden

 

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
- William Wordsworth

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. - Helen Keller

 

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you. - Frank Lloyd Wright

The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do. - Galileo

 

To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves. - Mahatma Gandhi

 

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
An eternity in an hour.
- William Blake

The Earth has music for those who listen.

Surely there is something in the unruffled calm of nature that overawes our little anxieties and doubts; the sight of the deep-blue sky and the clustering stars above seems to impart a quiet to the mind. - Jonathan Edwards

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather just different kinds of good weather. -- John Ruskin

As against having beautiful workshops, studios, etc., one writes best in a cellar on a rainy day. -- Van Wyck Brooks

There's always a period of curious fear between the first sweet-smelling breeze and the time when the rain comes cracking down. -- Don Delillo

 

Who loves a garden still his Eden keeps,
Perennial pleasures plants, and wholesome harvest reaps. - Amos Bronson Alcott

 

How fair is a garden amid the toils and passions of existence. - Benjamin Disraeli

 

Nature has nothing for its own.
Sun doesn’t need its light & heat for its own.
Snow & rain doesn’t fall of itself.
Trees don’t use their own fruit. Flowers doesn’t spread their fragrance for their own.

These are all for humans. & living for others is the psychology of LIFE.

 

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air?” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

I am taught the poorness of our invention, the ugliness of towns and palaces. Art and luxury have early learned that they must work as enhancements and sequel to this original beauty. I am over instructed for my return. Henceforth I shall be hard to please. I cannot go back to toys. I am grown expensive and sophisticated. I can no longer live without elegance: but a countryman shall be my master of revels. He who knows the most, he who knows what sweets and virtues are in the ground, the waters, the plants, the heavens, and how to come at these enchantments, is the rich and royal man. Only as far as the masters of the world have called in nature to their aid, can they reach the height of magnificence. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

The mountains I become part of it..

The herbs & fir trees, I become part of it…

The morning mists, the clouds, the gathering waters I become part of it. – Navajo Chant

Spread Pita Pizza Snack!

 

Okay so I was watching a show not long ago and they had snack ideas that are healthy. One was a pita pizza recipe. It is so simple and delicious!

 

I have tried it more times now than I remember and it is very delicious! Now the recipe called for Almond Butter but it is so expensive so I reckoned Peanut Butter and Nutella Hazelnut Spread have generally the same consistency so I used them both. 

 

I added the cranberries which was a delicious additive. I also added fresh pineapple chunks to one and it was so good too. Now I think any fresh or dried fruit would be delicious if added to the tops.

 

Ingredients:

 

Pita Bread

Peanut Butter

Nutella Hazelnut Spread or any off brand Hazelnut Spread

Almond Butter *spread in original recipe*

Banana Chips

Raisins

Dried Cranberries *optional, my additive*

Honey

 

Directions:

 

Take pita bread or pita bread halves and put the Peanut Butter, Nutella Hazelnut Spread, or Almond Butter spread on it, or put a different spread on each half. Then put Banana Chips on the spread. Then sprinkle Raisins and Dried Cranberries over the Banana Chips and spread. Next drizzle Honey over it all. Put the spread pita bread snack in the oven at 350 Degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes, to let it all loosen up and get nice and warm. Take out and enjoy!

 

Baking Soda, Vinegar, and Hot Water Drain Clog Remover, really Works!

¾ Cup Baking Soda

½ Cup White Vinegar

Hot Water

 

Put ¾ Cup Baking Soda down the drain. Then pour ½ Cup White Vinegar down. Either plug the drain or not. There will be a bubbled reaction. Up to 30 minutes later add hot water to the drain to remove clog. Repeat when needed.

 

***

 

I tried this method a few months ago and it had an amazing result. So this time the clog was real bad. So today we added baking soda and vinegar and thought for sure we would have to call a plumber, the clog was that bad. Then out of the blue the water gushed down the drain and you could hear the clearing of the drain as we ran hot water down it. We used more baking soda and white vinegar than was recommended by the recipe I found but the result is so fantastic. Baking soda and white vinegar is my go to with a clog from now on.

 

I recommend this method on even the worst clogs. Of course should it not work then call a plumber but give this method plenty of time to work before calling.

How to determine if one is an Ogre? Lol!

I am generally one who is observant, as a writer I have to be. I am a people watcher by nature so that I can better understand certain reactions, facial movements, emotions, etcetera so as to bring them about better in my writing. 

 

Anyway I have become curious of late that perhaps my looks or personality point to me being an ogre. Bear with me as I explain lol. I have started to think that maybe I am unattractive, I never much cared what I looked like, but I know I am not exactly pretty. My sister is the pretty one. But I thought wouldn’t it stand to reason some male somewhere that has met me might like me, it seems either in this regard I am not very observant or the answer is no, that I am not liked. Of course if one likes someone for looks alone that is shallow and if one cares only about their own appearance that is vanity and they are probably a narcissist.

 

So is it my personality? Am I unpleasing to speak with? Am I boring to speak with? Do I come off mean or rude? So many, many questions and so very few answers… So how does one determine if they are unattractive physically or personality wise? I shall have to dig deeper and let you all know or maybe one of you can tell me how best to determine this.

 

I shall let you all know if I become classified as a fairy-tale ogre, lol. :~)

*Though I LOL and put smiley faces in the above post I am dead serious about this subject, it is just funny the way I decided to write this.*

E-Publishing Route?

I once said for my material in my manuscripts I would most likely not try the self-publishing or e-publishing route. Not because it is wrong but because I was unfamiliar with it and to be honest a bit scared of it. Well that was until I read a few success stories. One in particular has led me to do much more research on this. Though I think going the traditional route is all good and well, unless you are a celebrity or have been published before it is so hard to break into print.

I feel as the one author in one of the articles I read, I am tired of rejections and I am willing to work hard to push my work to be the best and see it put in the hands of readers. I will have to do much more work and research but I want to say that if and when I make a decision and move forward I will post about it.

 

I am thinking maybe e-publishing will open up a way for me to someday go the traditional book publisher route as I have read has happened.

 

If it falls through and I can’t succeed that way then maybe I will think that writing is just to be my hobby and nothing else. But for now I AM NOT GIVING UP! I hope no other writers out there give up either. Stay strong and write on, brothers and sisters! :~)